Good Practices
The use of substances among students of a Thai vocational school
In a well-designed study of Thai vocational school students, researchers reported worrisome levels of drug use and sexual activity in this month's Pediatrics journal. The study surveyed 1736 students using a new computer-assisted self-interviewing technique that was backed up by urine collection.
Among the Findings:
* 48% of students reported having had sexual intercourse;
* only 15% of males and 10% of females report consistent use of condoms with their most recent steady partner -- condom use was higher with casual partners (32% and 47%);
* 21% of females reported they had been coerced into sexual activity;
* five cases of HIV infection were detected;
* 22% of sexually active students reported that they had been involved in a pregnancy;
* rates of reported alcohol use were high (92% of males and 80% of females reported use in the past three months);
* 29% of students reported having used methamphetamines -- with strong differences according to gender (39% of males vs. 18% of females) and age (47% of 20- and 21-year-olds vs. 36% of remainder);
* opiate (e.g., heroin) and injection drug use was very rare (e.g., .3% of males reported opiate use and no females reported ever using).
Authors' Comments:
The detection of five new cases of HIV and the amount of unprotected sex, coerced sex and pregnancies reported by students is disturbing. Thailand has excellent family planning services, but apparently, single, young females do not use these services. This is likely due to the existing taboo on female premarital sex. These young people urgently need to be educated about sexual behaviour, and contraceptive tools should be made available to them.
Reviewer's Comments:
Alcohol use is high compared to other parts of the world. It is interesting that heroin use is so low in one of the largest heroin producing regions in the world. The report didn't provide any information on the extent of sexual activity that students engage in while using substances, which is, of course, a risky practice.
One of the aims of the study was to test the effectiveness of a technique for estimating the level of drug use in a region. This technique (ACASI: audio-computer-assisted self-interviewing) involves the following: respondents hear questions and possible answers through an earphone; they can simultaneously read them from a computer screen and are asked to click or type their answers on the computer. This study and others have shown this technique to provide more accurate information than other self-reporting methods and should be considered by any group interested in getting an accurate estimate of youth drug use in their region.
Source:
Frits van Griensven, et al. Rapid Assessment of Sexual Behavior, Drug Use, Human Immunodeficiency Virus, and Sexually Transmitted Diseases in Northern Thai Youth Using Audio-Computer-Assisted Self-Interviewing and Noninvasive Specimen Collection. Pediatrics, Vol. 108 No. 1 July 2001, p. e13, Electronic Article.